Birds of a Feather
by Deandra
Summary: Elfwine plays outside. Fluffy little ONE-SHOT. Part 5 of The Elfwine Chronicles.


_**Part 5 of the Elfwine Chronicles. The Elfwine Chronicles are a series of one-shots, of which there will definitely be three, but MIGHT be more if I come up with more ideas. Also, despite the name "Elfwine Chronicles", the stories will encompass the family unit of Eomer, Lothiriel and Elfwine, and any or all will appear in each story, but all will revolve around life with Elfwine as a part of it in some fashion.**_

**Birds of a Feather**

**(May, 5 IV)**

My son had been playing outside most of the afternoon, happily getting as dirty as it was possible for anyone to get, and I rather dreaded having to bring him in for supper. I knew he was not going to like the idea, but a bath certainly was required before he ate.

Reluctantly, I rose from writing a letter to my father and went in search of Elfwine and his nurse. Not unexpectedly, I found them near the stables. That was already one of his favorite places – he truly was his father's son in that respect.

"Elfwine, time to come in and get ready for supper."

He looked up at me, scowling, "Do I have to? Papa is not home yet. Are we not going to wait for him?"

"He will be along soon and you need a bath before we eat."

"I do not want a bath!" he exclaimed. My darling four-year-old had been asserting his independence lately and wanted to decide for himself what he did or did not do.

"Elfwine, you do not have a say in this. If you play outside and get dirty, then you must take a bath when you come inside. It is as simple as that. Now come along," I told him firmly.

He pouted and cried, and resisted as his nurse took his hand and pulled him behind her. Once inside the Golden Hall, away from outside eyes, I turned to him, "Elfwine, behave yourself! Do not make me have to punish you!"

At that moment, my husband, Eomer, came striding into the hall. We must have just missed his arrival outside and I glanced up as he approached. He took in the drama before him with Elfwine's whines of complaint, and said firmly, "Elfwine, do as your mother says! I do not want to hear any arguments."

Elfwine continued to pout, but his father's stern words silenced him, until he looked up sulkily while taking his nurse's hand and observed, "I do not see why I have to take a bath before eating if Papa does not! He is dirtier than me!"

My gaze turned to make note of my husband's appearance with an appraising expression. My eyebrow quirked upward and I commented, "The boy makes an excellent point, my lord! Perhaps you should join your son in bathing!"

Eomer flushed red, but couldn't restrain a lopsided grin, "Very well…mother!" He reached down and picked up his son, giving him a teasing glare, "I will make you pay for this later, young man! But for now – to the bath!"

With that, he slung Elfwine under his arm and ran off down the hall toward our chambers, both of them laughing heartily. The nurse trailed behind to arrange for the bath water, but shaking her head in astonishment at my filthy pair.

THE END

**_A/N: For some reason, I'm not as satisfied with this one as with the others. But here it is, for what it's worth! And, no, I haven't ruled out Elfwine and a pregnant Lothiriel_ – _I just don't have any ideas on it yet._**

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End note: It is not essential that you read the Elfwine Chronicles in the order they were written, but there is an advantage to doing so. The more of them that I wrote, the more likely I was to make reference to one of the previous ones and something that happened there. If you want to read them in order, go to the top of this page and click on my name (Deandra). That will take you to my profile page. Scroll down and you will find all the stories I have written. The Elfwine Chronicles are in order from bottom to top since ffn shows them in the order they were posted. A few were posted out of number order (#15 came after #17, I think), but you can read them in posting order or number order since those few won't be affected in the story content.


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